you know, the ting that makes jim demint a great leader is the same thing that has always made people like matt spalding and the heritage foundation itself so very valuable; that is, your shared insistence on making the positive case for conservativism, what conservatives are for. in washington it's common for both parties to succumb to easy negativity. republicans and democrats stand opposed to each other, obviously, and outspoken partisanship almost always gets the most headlines. this negativity is unappealing on pote sides, and that helps explain why the federal government is increasingly held in such low regard by the american people. but for the left the defensive crouch at least makes sense. liberalism's main purpose today is to defend itself past gains -- its past gains from conservative reform. but megativity on the right, to my mind, makes no sense at all. the left has created this false narrative that liberals are for things, and conservatives are against things. when we concede this narrative even just implicitly, we concede the debate before that debate even begins. and y